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Paul:

Amon  khun ja pai rap faen kii moong  nii haa moong sip naathii laew na

 

ÍÁà ¤Ø³¨Ðä»ÃѺΌ¡ÕèâÁ§
¹ÕèËéÒâÁ§ÊÔº¹Ò·ÕáÅéǹÐ

Amon, what time are you picking your girlfriend up? Now it’s already 10 past five.

Amorn:

taai laew  mai than nae nae loey  phom bawk thoe waa ja pai rap tawn hok moong

 

µÒÂáÅéÇ äÁè·Ñ¹á¹èæ àÅÂ
¼ÁºÍ¡à¸ÍÇèÒ¨Ðä»ÃѺµÍ¹Ë¡âÁ§

Dear me! I must be late for sure. I told her to pick her up at six.

Paul:

ngan khun riip pai loey  wang waa rot khong mai tit na.

 

§Ñ鹤سÃÕºä»àÅ ËÇѧÇèÒöäÁèµÔ´¹Ð …….

Then you hurry up! I hope the traffic isn’t bad.

Amorn:

khawthoot thii  phom maa chaa pai siphaa naathii

 

¢Íâ·É·Õ ¼ÁÁÒªéÒä»ÊÔºËéÒ¹Ò·Õ

Sorry, I’m 15 minutes late.

Anne:

mai pen rai rawk kha  waa tae nang khao kii moong kha

 

äÁèà»ç¹äÃËÃÍ¡¤èÐ áµèÇèÒ˹ѧà¢éÒ¡ÕèâÁ§¤Ð

That’s all right, but do you know what time the movie starts?

Amorn:

nang khao thum trong

 

˹ѧà¢éÒ·ØèÁµÃ§

Seven sharp.

Anne:

ngan khun jawt rot wai thiinii  rao pai rotfaifaa dii kwaa reo kwaa dii mai kha

 

§Ñ鹤س¨Í´Ã¶äÇé·Õè¹Õè àÃÒä»Ã¶ä¿¿éÒ´Õ¡ÇèÒ àÃçÇ¡ÇèÒ ´ÕäËÁ¤Ð

Then you’d better park here and we’d better go by BTS, OK?

Amorn:

dii muuean kan khun saap mai nang yaao dii chuamoong

 

´ÕàËÁ×͹¡Ñ¹ ¤Ø³·ÃÒºäËÁ
˹ѧÂÒÇ¡ÕèªÑèÇâÁ§

Good idea. Do you know how long the movie is?

Anne:

nueng chuamoong haasip naathii

 

˹Ö觪ÑèÇâÁ§ ËéÒÊÔº¹Ò·Õ

One hour 50 minutes.

Amorn:

ey.. laew rao ja klap maathueng thiinii kii moong

 

àÍáÅéÇàÃҨСÅѺÁÒ¶Ö§·Õè¹Õè¡ÕèâÁ§

Eh… What time shall we get back here?

Anne:

khit waa pramaan saam thum siisiphaa naathii

 

¤Ô´ÇèÒ»ÃÐÁÒ³ÊÒÁ·ØèÁ ÊÕèÊÔºËéÒ¹Ò·Õ

I think around 9:45.

Amorn:

thii jawtrot thiinii pit kii moong

 

·Õè¨Í´Ã¶·Õè¹Õè»Ô´¡ÕèâÁ§

What time does the parking lot here close?

Anne:

sii thum trong

 

ÊÕè·ØèÁµÃ§

Ten o’clock sharp.

Amorn:

ookey  ngan rao riip pai kan thoe

 

âÍठ§Ñé¹àÃÒÃպ仡ѹà¶ÍÐ

OK, then let’s hurry up!

Language check:

When you want to know what time it is now you say kii moong laew. If you want to know the time it will take to do something, you say kii moong; for example, khun thaan khao yen kii moong; khun pai tham-ngaan kii moong khrap.

For the official way of telling the time, we use naalikaa, meaning 'o'clock' at the end of time. This is similar to the "24-hour clock".

07.00 – 11.00 am.

paet- sipet naalikaa

7 o’clock

12.00 am

sipsawng naalikaa

12 o’clock in the morning

13.00 – 23.00 pm

sipsaam - yiisipsaam naalikaa

1 o’clock in the afternoon

24.00pm

yisipsii naalikaa

12 o’clock in the afternoon

Now compare the same times with the more colloquial Thai way of telling the time:

06.00 – 11.00 am.

hok - sip-et moong chao

7 - 11 in the morning

12.00 am

thiang khuuen

midnight

13. 00 pm

baai moong

1 in the afternoon

14.00 pm

baai sawng moong

2 in the afternoon

15.00 pm

baai saam moong

3 in the afternoon

16.00 pm

baai sii moong / 4 moong yen

4 in the afternoon

17.00 pm

baai haa moong / 5 moong yen

5 in the afternoon

18.00 pm

6 moong yen

6 in the afternoon

19.00 – 23.00 pm

nueng - haa thum

7 - 11 in the evening

24.00pm

thiang wan

noon

Vocabulary check:

Please put the following sentences in colloquial Thai?

  1. What time do you go home? = ………………
  2. Five pm. = ………………
  3. What time do you usually have lunch? = ………………
  4. Noon = ………………


  • This lesson was prepared by Acharn Sunee Siidao, Educational Specialist.

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    Last modified: August 15, 2005
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  • Phuut Phaasaa Thai gives you useful topical and seasonal Thai words and phrases used in daily-life conversations. The column will give you some instant Thai language to help you out in common situations.

    ñö singhaakhom òõôø  ( 16 August 2005)     

    kii moong laew

     

    The first time a farang colleague asked me: "What time do you make it?", I was confused as to what he meant by "make it". You might have the same experience when a Thai friend gives you the time in Thai. The Thai way of talking about time is quite confusing for Thai learners as we have more than one way to tell the same time. Actually, we use similar patterns to English as we'll see in this week's column.